Time is right for raising of BSE testing age rules, says NFU

The NFU has said the time is right to raise the age of testing for BSE with just a handful of cases now across the EU.

The European Commissions Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) has agreed to allow 22 Member States, including the UK, to raise the BSE testing age from 48 months to 72 months for healthy slaughtered cattle.

Alistair Mackintosh, NFU livestock board chairman, said: Consumer safety is always of paramount importance to producers, and in relation to BSE, and we understood the need for strict controls in the past. However, the time is right to move to a more science-based level of protection. As producers we want to see regulations which are risk-based and use up-to-date scientific evidence. I would encourage EU ministers to repeat this stance across all EU regulations and do so in a timely manner.

We have seen the level of BSE cases fall continually; now there are just a handful of cases across the EU. The EFSA opinion supports the view that increasing the testing age will not adversely affect human health.

I understand the final decision on raising the testing age in the UK lies with the FSA and Defra and I am committed to working with both organisations during the forthcoming consultation process with the aim of having the new testing age introduced by July 1.

• The change to BSE testing will come into effect from July 1 2011 and is based on the scientific opinion provided by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in December 2010. Before any changes to the UK testing age for BSE can be made, the FSA and Defra must put the SCoFCAH proposals out to consultation and any recommendations to change the testing age must be signed off by relevant government ministers.
• The current surveillance and age limits will remain in place for producers in Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland until there is better evidence of a decline in the number of BSE cases.
• The dossier is subject to the right of scrutiny of the European Parliament that has three months to express a positive or negative opinion concerning this decision. In principle there should be no problem.